Hill walking in the Algarve

Most Wednesdays you will find us in the north east of the Algarve, discovering new trails in the hills above the Odeleite and Foupana rivers. Generally the weather is perfect for hill walking – light winds, sunshine and the occasional clouds. However we have learnt through experience to keep in our day packs wet weather gear, a change of socks and a light jumper. And the other week we thought at one stage we would need it all. My header photo was taken towards the end of the hike, but below it how it looked at the beginning of our walk. Brrr!!

Not at all what was forecast and we soon found ourselves striding fast to keep warm. Despite the cold, the winds and the grey it wasn’t long though before we reverted to our usual hill walking style of a reasonable pace interspersed with frequent stops so we could observe and photograph what was around us. Or in this case what was above our heads.

This was a new walk we were trying, and it is one we will definitely be doing again as I was delighted to discover we could see the Ponte Internacional. It must look amazing from here on a less cloudy day.

Can you see it above? You need to look to the far right. We were about 17miles away as the crow flies, and on a cloudy day photographing towards the sun made it almost impossible to capture on film. I did try to zoom in, but with limited success.

I must admit soon after this point I beginning to despair of the weather. This is not what we come to the Algarve for! But then I realised the skies were becoming bluer, and it wasn’t long before we walking in beautiful sunshine.

Still very windy though, and I really struggled at times to hold the camera still, hence my less than optimum photographs in this post. It really wasn’t the day to be out with a camera even down by the Foupana and Odeleite rivers. We did though manage to find a fabulous spot out of the wind for our picnic. We always hike with a picnic, as well as at least 2litres water, plenty of suncream, walking sticks for the steep sections and – I’ll mention them again – a change of socks for river crossings.

The last section of this hike is one we know well, and later in the year is a superb area to explore if you enjoy birding and flora adventures. In early January on a windy day there wasn’t so much to see, albeit we did spot birds of prey above us, Paperwhite Narcissus everywhere and even the dog at the pig farm didn’t mind me taking his portrait.

I have not yet uploaded this new walk to my interactive walking website, hence the lack of details exactly where we were. However you might instead want to visit my walking page on this site which details some great walks here in the Algarve and provides links for others throughout Portugal. And if you are looking for great walks further afield visit my lovely friend Jo and her Monday Walkers.

The days with challenging weather can make for interesting photographs though, don’t you think? I don’t mind a grey or cloudy sky at all, but like you find wind a bit of a struggle. You still managed to capture the essence of the walk though.